The duration of material phenomena: The life-span of a citta is termed, in the Abhidhamma, a mind-moment (cittakkhaṇa). This is a temporal unit of such brief duration that, according to the commentators,in the time that it takes for lightning to flash or the eyes to blink, billions of mind-moments can elapse. Nevertheless, though seemingly infinitesimal, each mind-moment in turn consists of three sub-moments— arising (uppāda), presence (ṭhiti), and dissolution (bhanga). Within the breadth of a mind-moment, a citta arises, performs its momentary function, and then dissolves, conditioning the next citta in immediate succession. Thus, through the sequence of mind-moments, the flow of consciousness continues uninterrupted like the waters in a stream.
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The five sense objects enter … at the stage of presence: The five sense objects—visible forms, etc.—are material phenomena and thus endure for seventeen mind-moments. Since the sense object is still weakat the sub-moment of arising, it can enter the avenue of sense only when it reaches the stage of presence.
Therefore, if a visible form as object, etc.: When no active cognitive process is taking place, the bhavanga flows on as a series of cittas all of the same type, hanging on to a single object—either a kamma, a sign of kamma, or a sign of destiny—the same as the object of the last javana process in the immediately preceding existence. At the very moment a sense object enters a sense door, one bhavanga citta passes, known as atīta-bhavanga, the past life-continuum. Then another two bhavanga cittas vibrate owing to the impact of the object, the second interrupting the stream of the bhavanga. In the sub-commentaries these are distinguished as bhavanga-calana, vibrational life-continuum, and bhavang’-upaccheda, arrest life-continuum. Thereafter, with the arising of the five-door adverting citta, the stream of consciousness emerges from the “process-freed” state and launches into a cognitive process (vīthipāta).
The twenty-nine sense-sphere javanas: that is, twelve unwholesome types, eight each of the great wholesome and great functional types, and the functional smile-producing citta. Only one type of citta runs for all seven occasions of the javana process.
This object is called “very great”: In the process with a very great object, the object arises simultaneously with the arising sub-moment of the atīta-bhavanga. Since the sense object and the sensitive matter of the sense organ both have a duration of seventeen mind-moments, they both perish simultaneously with the second registration citta. Thus this kind of cognitive process runs for a full seventeen mind-moments, of which fourteen cittas, beginning with the five-door adverting citta, are considered process cittas proper. This cognitive process is also known as tadārammaṇavāra, a course ending with registration. (See Table 4.1.)
The connection of the cognitive process described in the text with the “six sixes” may be understood as follows. When a visible form impinges on the eye-sensitivity, then, supported by the eye-base, there arises an eye-consciousness taking as object the visible form that has impinged on the eye. For the eye-consciousness, the eye-sensitivity is the base and the door, the visible form is the object. The other cittas in the process—the five-door adverting, the receiving, investigating, and determining consciousnesses, the javanas, and registration—are states of mind- consciousness. They take the same visible form as object and the eye-sensitivity as door, but they arise with the support of the heart-base. For all the cittas in the process, the bhavanga is also considered a door, since the entire process emerges from the bhavanga. Thus all sense-door processes are considered to have two doors, the material sensitivity as a differentiating door and the mind door or bhavanga as a common door. Because it has arisen specifically in the eye door this process is called an “eye-door process,” and because it is distinguished by eye- consciousness it is also called an “eye-consciousness process.” Since it has arisen with a very powerful object capable of impinging on the sense faculty after only one mind-moment has passed, it is called a process with a very great object. The cognitive processes in the other senses may be understood accordingly, with the necessary substitutions.
The ancient teachers of the Abhidhamma illustrate the cognitive process occurring in the sense doors with the simile of the mango. A
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certain man with his head covered went to sleep at the foot of a fruiting mango tree. Then a ripe mango loosened from the stalk fell to the ground, grazing his ear. Awakened by the sound, he opened his eyes and looked; then he stretched out his hand, took the fruit, squeezed it, and smelt it. Having done so, he ate the mango, swallowed it appreciating its taste, and then went back to sleep.
Here, the time of the man’s sleeping at the foot of the mango tree is like the time when the bhavanga is occurring. The instant of the ripe mango falling from its stalk and grazing his ear is like the instant of the object striking one of the sense organs, for instance, the eye. The time of awaking through the sound is like that of the five-door adverting consciousness turning towards the object. The time of the man’s opening his eyes and looking is like eye-consciousness accomplishing its function of seeing. The time of stretching out his hand and taking the mango is like that of the receiving consciousness receiving the object. The time of squeezing the fruit is like that of the investigating consciousness investigating the object. The time of smelling the mango is like that of the determining consciousness determining the object. The time of eating the mango is like that of javana experiencing the flavour of the object. The swallowing of the fruit while appreciating its taste is like the registration consciousness taking the same object as the javana phase. And the man’s going back to sleep is like the subsidence back into the bhavanga.
It should be noted that the entire cognitive process occurs without any self or subject behind it as an enduring experiencer or inner controller, a“knower” outside the scope of the process itself. The momentary cittas themselves exercise all the functions necessary to cognition, and the unity of the cognitive act derives from their coordination through laws of conditional connectedness. Within the cognitive process each citta comes into being in accordance with the lawful order of consciousness (cittaniyāma). It arises in dependence on a variety of conditions, including the preceding citta, the object, a door, and a physical base. Having arisen, it performs its own unique function within the process, and then it dissolves, becoming a condition for the next citta.